Women's Lacrosse: Colgate Downs Stony Brook in the Snow

HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/12/11)  Colleen Bubnack and Katie Sullivan scored four goals apiece to lead the Colgate women's lacrosse team to a 17-15 win over Stony Brook on a snowy afternoon at Tyler's Field.

Colgate (1-0) got five total points from Courtney Miller on three goals and two assists. Bubnack also had five points after adding an assist to her four-goal output. Alison Flood had three points in her first game in a Colgate uniform, while Christina Roa earned the win with three saves in 49 minutes of play. Hanna Longwell saw her first action of her career with 11 minutes in the second half and had a save.

Stony Brook (0-1) had two four-goal scorers as well in Melissa Cook and Samantha Djaha. Alyssa Cardillo had a good day with a team-high five points on two goals and three helpers. Mickey Cahill took the loss with eight saves in her season debut.

The Raiders jumped out to a commanding 5-0 lead in the first 10 minutes thanks to a pair of goals from Sullivan and Bubnack. Greer Goebels also added an unassisted goal during the run. Stony Brook fought back with three-straight goals to cut the Colgate lead to 5-3. Djaha scored two of her three first half goals and Victoria Cable tallied a goal as well.

Bubnack started another four-goal run with her third of the day coming with 13:13 left in the half. Alison Flood scored her first collegiate goal to make it 7-3 on a nice individual effort, showing off her speed. Bubnack, then added her fourth of the half a minute later to push the lead to 8-3. Quincey Spagnoletti increased the Colgate advantage to 9-3 with her first of the year with 10:58 left.

Stony Brook outscored the Raiders down the stretch of the first half by a 3-2 margin. Cook had two of the three goals, while Djaha had the other Kate Bergstrom and Flood added the Colgate goals to give the Raiders an 11-6 lead at the midway point.

The Seawolves came out of the locker room ready to play and sliced the lead to 11-8 in the first five minutes. Amanda O'Sullivan and Miller fired back to push the lead back up five goals at 13-8. Stony Brook, however, didn't go away and fired back with three straight to make it 13-11.

The teams traded the next five goals and then a huge snow squall came across Tyler's Field and forced the teams to head to the locker room. The delay lasted around 20 minutes. When the teams returned, Colgate was able to hold off a late charge by the Seawolves, thanks to goals by Bergstrom and Sullivan to seal the deal at 17-15.

Colgate had a 29-22 shot advantage, but did a great job clearing the ball with 12 clears in 14 chances. The Raiders forced 17 turnovers in the game, but had 16 of their own.

NOTES: Colgate beat Stony Brook for the fifth time in the series history 17 goals in the season opener fell two goals short of the record of 19, which came against the Seawolves in 2009 the Raiders had eight different goal scorers and five with two or more Colgate went 2-for-4 on free position opportunities, while Stony Brook went 2-for-3.